Top 5 Shows

1.) Not as many hot commodities or touring headliners are participating in Lolaspalooza this year, chiefly because of the namesake club will be more than doubling in size soon (“Lola’s Doubles Up,” Oct. 15), but this year’s version of the annual three-day festival still has a few acts to make it recommendable, staring with The Unlikely Candidates on Friday.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rvb4lw4a3Y4

Saturday stands to be the loudest day of the three. Fort Worth pop-punks Perdition, Arlington doom-rockers Stone Machine Electric, rowdy newcomers the American 45s (featuring former Frisky Disco frontman/wildman Hayden Miller), and the raucous Vicious Firs are among the performers.

Sunday is full of familiar faces. Headliner Big Mike’s Electric Church, doing the music of Jimi Hendrix, will be preceded by, among others, the self-proclaimed loud and sucky Me-Thinks, the heavily psychedelic Jetta in the Ghost Tree and Un Chien, and Funkytown funk-rap specialists Rivercrest Yacht Club.

Tickets to the fifth annual Lolaspalooza are $10-25.

2.) Highly recommended for fans of later-day Tom Waits or debut album-era Rufus Wainwright, Bethan purveys a paradoxically sumptuous brand of minimalist-pop that’s theatrical, often transportative –– and not just because three songs off the Denton quintet’s freshly released sophomore album, Time Gone By, are entitled “In Our Paris,” “Honeymoon,” and “Melancholia” –– and oh-so-tasty. Formerly a vehicle for charismatic singer-songwriter Jessi James Hall, Bethan is now a proper band, spawning from collaborations between Hall and husband/multi-instrumentalist Daniel T. Hall.

On Friday at Dan’s Silverleaf (103 Industrial St., Denton, 940-320-2000), Bethan will be joined by Waco’s Lomelda and two other Denton acts: Chinaski the Fury and headliners Chambers.

Cover is $7.

3.) Open for only a couple of weeks and located near downtown in the building formerly occupied by J&J’s Blues Bar, River Run Roadhouse (937 Woodward St., 817-420-9166) is quickly establishing itself as a solid little indie-rock spot. Two Fort Worth bands, the bombastically trippy-dippy Fibs and explosive anti-blues duo Jack Thunder & The Road Soda, will open for the synth-happy Portland, Oregon, duo Ghetto Hexes on Friday.

http://vimeo.com/106316526

Cover is $5.

4.) As the aforementioned Un Chien is dark and menacing, Arizona’s Bear Ghost is as light, bright, and fun-loving as a Disney short. The only thing that connects the bands –– other than the fact that they’re playing The Grotto (517 University Dr., 817-882-9331) on Saturday –– is mind-bogglingly good musicianship.

No word on cover.

5.) This one time I ate an entire large pizza in a single sitting. My wife and I were sitting in front of the TV at home. A car commercial came on. The narrator-guy described some fancy accoutrement as “dynamic.” “You’re dynamic,” said my wife, her words freighted with sarcasm, disgust, and awe. “You ate an entire large pizza!”

Since 1994, Fort Worth Weekly has provided a vibrant alternative to North Texas’ often-timid mainstream media outlets by offering incisive, irreverent reportage that keeps readers well informed and the powers-that-be worried.